Summer is typically a bad time for the Red Cross anyway, said Kim Talkington, regional director of donor recruitment for Red Cross operations in Wichita, Kan.

"The need goes up because there are more people traveling and there's more accidents," Talkington said. At the same time, donations fall because families are out of town on vacation, she said.

And because high school- and college-age donors make up almost 20 percent of Red Cross donations, their contributions drop by more than 50 percent when school is out for the summer, said Beth Forbes, a donor recruitment representative for the agency in Quincy, Ill.

That's expected, but this year, there are additional factors.

Damaging storms created extra demand in the East and the Midwest at the same time that they dried up the supply, said Rodney Wilson, communications manager for the American Red Cross of Central Ohio.